


vacancy

by indigoshuoyues



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Flash Thompson Redemption, Jealousy, Kinda but not really, Pre-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Pre-Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), flash centric, never edited, peter and mj are technically only mentioned, written a year ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23738629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigoshuoyues/pseuds/indigoshuoyues
Summary: Instead of earnest joy and happiness, his chest contains a gaping, vacant hole, one that expands when he meets Peter Parker- he's terribly envious of Peter.There's more to Flash than what meets the eye.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Flash Thompson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	vacancy

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this a year ago and just found it in my drive.
> 
> not edited. just felt like posting.

Happiness.

Something Flash never felt in earnest. Instead, in its place lied a vacant gap in his chest. As a child, his mother was always busy, she never wanted to see him. His father was the same, but unlike his mother, who lived in quiet ignorance, his father would always admonish him, letting him know how inadequate he was, how he was such a disappointment and how he shouldn’t have been born.

He spent all of elementary and middle school thinking he was some kind of idiot, that he should be better, so he pushed and he pushed and he pushed, until he had far exceeded his classmates, and, at the tail end of eight grade, received his acceptance letter from Midtown.

It was daunting, his first day, because suddenly he wasn’t the smartest, he was just average because everyone was just as smart as him, so he pushed and he pushed and pushed, until he was formally invited to the academic decathlon team, because they were the best of the best, the elite, and he thought that maybe he’d be happy now.

Until he met Peter Parker. They’d had classes together, but had never talked. Peter Parker was the very best of the best, a brilliant young genius, and because of that, he had a full ride to Midtown, and that struck a painful chord in Flash’s chest.

Because Flash wanted to be as smart as Peter.

The more time passed, the more envious Flash became. Peter may not have parents, and he lost his uncle, but god, his aunt cared for him so much, it seemed as if she would walk to the ends of the earth for the sake of her nephew, and Flash wished he had someone like that in his life. His parents had never cared for him, he was raised by the household staff. 

Peter had great friends, too. Flash could tell that Ned and MJ would drop whatever they were doing to help Peter, when he needed them. He saw how they confided in each other, always helping each other. Peter only had two close friends, but Flash still felt a stab of envy when he saw them. He had a big group of so-called “friends”, but he was never close with any of them and trusted none of them. He knew it was likely that they only hung around him to boost their own social standing. 

When Flash took the time to reflect, late at night, when he couldn’t fall asleep, he supposed that, the reason why he was so brutal to Peter compared to everyone else, was because he envied Peter. He had a scholarship, a loving aunt, and amazing friends, he had almost everything that Flash has ever wanted.

Flash wanted something to believe in, something to help him become a better person, and that thing finally came along. In the last few months of their freshman year, the friendly neighborhood Spider-man emerged. Flash had watched first hand as Spider-man stopped a car with his bare hands and he thought,  _ ‘I wish I could be like him.’ _

Obviously, Flash was no idiot. He had noticed how Peter was changing, around the time Spider-man emerged. He had lost his glasses, been able to climb up the ropes in PE in record time, and he had obviously put on a lot of muscle, filling in his once-baggy clothes. One day, when they were doing “Captain America’s Fitness Challenge”, (or something), Flash had noticed Peter pretending to struggle, when his expression betrayed the ease he had with the push-ups.  _ ‘Could Parker be the Spider-man? _ ’ Flash had thought, while he sat on the bleachers, watching that group go.  _ ‘Nah, that’s impossible. He’s just a kid!’ _ Despite his best attempts to reason with himself, an inkling had lodged itself into the back of his mind.

When the news had reported on the Avengers’ so-called “Civil War”, they had also mentioned how “Queens’ masked vigilante” had also joined the fight. How convenient, would it be, that Peter Parker would’ve been absent for two days while this unfolded, and when he had returned, he had a nasty bruise covering an entire side of his face.  _ (“I was sick, and I was super dizzy so i fell!” Peter had said) _ Ever more curiously, was how the bruise was gone the next day. That day, when Peter stood at his locker with Ned, he hadn’t noticed how Flash’s dark, questioning eyes bore into his back.

Soon after, when Ned started running around, touting Peter’s Stark Internship, that gap in his heart widened. Tony Stark was his childhood hero, he had always wanted to work for Stark Industries, and as far as he was aware, they weren’t even accepting intern applications. Peter was scouted. While he ran around the halls mocking Peter for his “so-called Stark Internship”, Flash knew full well that it was 100% real, plus, he had seen the fancy car that came for Peter everyday, how he always had the newest model of whatever Stark device it was, should it be a phone, a laptop, or a watch, far before the release. He just felt some kind of sick satisfaction at the rest of the school believing him, believing Peter was a liar. 

During their sophomore year, when the acadec team went to DC for nationals, Flash found it far too convenient how Spider-man had appeared so soon after Peter had disappeared. After all, hadn’t Spider-man only been seen in Queens? He had also noticed how there were no more reports of the masked vigilante in DC after the team had left. And when Peter had disappeared during homecoming, leaving Liz behind, when he knew how hard Peter had tried to impress Liz, and later when it was reported that Spider-man had taken down a dangerous criminal trying to steal from a Stark shipment, he only grew more suspicious. At the end of an AcaDec meeting, when Peter’s phone had rang and he stood up to leave, Michelle (Flash didn’t get to call her MJ) had stopped him and asked “What are you hiding, Parker?” Flash’s suspicions were all but confirmed, Michelle was the most observant person he had ever known.(Plus, Ned was the opposite of subtle.) 

In their junior year, Flash was keen enough to notice how Peter had disappeared from the school bus when Ned pointed out the alien spaceship, distracting the class. _‘Oh god,’_ Flash had thought, _‘he’s gonna get himself killed.’_ While Flash wasn’t fond of Peter, he knew his dislike of the other boy wasn’t justified, and he couldn’t help but be worried on Peter’s behalf.

A few hours later, Flash Thompson fizzled out of existence.

**Author's Note:**

> it's bad, y'all. my old writing style... was not great.


End file.
